Herd movement on a Maasai group ranch in relation to traditional organisation and livestock development

Abstract

Livestock development in semi-arid areas of Africa has been based on the introduction of radical new systems of land tenure to common pastures. Planners appear to have had little interest in developing existing traditional organisational structures. The traditional grazing organisation in a Maasai group ranch is outlined and the events in the three years after adjudication are described. A local initiative is recorded which reinstated the traditional organisation system, controlling the rate of resource use and ensuring equitable access to the finite grazing resources.